1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of preventing the shaking of wires in a connector, in which a spacer is inserted into a connector housing to effect the retainment of terminals and the pressing of the wires simultaneously.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 11-102207, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 5 and 6 show a related wire shaking prevention structure of a connector disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho. 55-92285.
In this structure, female terminals 61, each connected to a wire 62, are inserted into a connector housing 60 of the male type, and the terminals 61 are retained at their rear ends by terminal double-retaining spacers 63, and at the same time the wires 62 are pressed by the spacers 63 to be fixed.
The connector housing 60 is made of a synthetic resin, and has a plurality of terminal receiving chambers 64 arranged in two (upper and lower) rows. The terminals 61 are inserted respectively in the upper and lower terminal receiving chambers 64, and the upper terminals 61 are disposed back to back with the lower terminals 61, respectively. Each terminal 61 is retained relative to a step portion of a partition wall 66 of the connector housing 60 through an elastic retaining piece portion 65 (FIG. 6).
Spacer insertion openings 68 are. formed respectively in upper and lower walls 67 of the connector housing 60, and are disposed intermediate opposite ends of the connector housing 60. The spacers 63 are inserted respectively into the openings 68 in a direction perpendicular to the terminal-inserting direction, and are retained at retaining projections 69 to the edges of the openings 68, respectively.
The spacer 63 is made of a synthetic resin, and has terminal-retaining/wire-pressing wall portions 70 for projecting into the terminal receiving chambers 64. The rear end of the terminal 61 is abutted against a vertical front end surface 70a of the wall portion 70, and the wire 62 is pressed in a radial direction by a horizontal surface 70b of the wall portion 70. The rear end of the terminal 61 defines rear ends of pressclamping piece portions 71 pressed to clamp an insulating sheath of the wire 62. A conductor of the wire 62 is press-clamped by press-clamping piece portions 72.
The purpose of pressing the wire 62 by the spacer 63 is to prevent the shaking of the wire 62 due to vibrations of a vehicle and so on so as to prevent the terminal 61 and the wire 62 from finely shaking in unison or being displaced in the longitudinal and radial directions and also to prevent the female terminal 61 of the connector 73 (FIG. 6) from moving in sliding contact with a male terminal in a mating connector (not shown) so as to prevent wear of these terminals and also to prevent the contact between the terminals from being adversely affected. Particularly, recently, the number of circuits, used in a vehicle, has increased, and also connectors and terminals have small-size designs, and as a result the load of contact between terminals tends to be reduced, and therefore there is a possibility that the contact between the terminals is rendered unstable by vibrations of the vehicle and so on. In order to overcome this problem, the wires 62 need to be positively pressed to be fixed.
In the above structure, however, the wall portion 70 of the spacer 63 serves to retain the terminal 61 and also to press the wire 62, and therefore the front and rear ends of the wall portion 70 have sharp edges, respectively, and there has been a possibility that the wire 62 is damaged by these edges. If the edge of the front end of the wall portion 70 is removed by chamfering or the like, damage to the wire 62 is prevented, but the area of contact of this front end with the rear end of the terminal 61 is reduced, thus inviting a problem that the force to retain the terminal 61 decreases. And besides, the flat surface 70b of the wall portion 70 of the spacer 63 is held in surface contact or line contact with the surface of the wire 62 along the length of the wire, and therefore pressing force is small, thus inviting a problem that the wire 62 is not sufficiently fixed against intense vibrations and the pulling and bending of the wire 62.
Furthermore, the spacer 63 is needed for each of the upper and lower rows of terminals 61 in the connector housing 60, and therefore there has been encountered a problem that the number of the spacers 63, as well as the time and labor for the assembling operation, increases. And besides, the upper row of terminals 61 and the lower row of terminals 61 must be arranged back to back with each other, and therefore there has been encountered a problem that this structure is not suited for the type of connector in which the upper and lower rows of terminals 61 are arranged to face in the same direction, that is, the upper and lower rows of terminals are arranged to face upwardly or downwardly.